By Dick Sparrer
Fremont was looking down on Los Gatos in the Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Cupertino...down about four places in the teams standings.
But when the two teams met for a dual match in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League last week, the Indians were looking up at the Wildcats--both figuratively and literally.
Los Gatos finished on top of Fremont with a 49-27 league win, and five Wildcats ended up atop their Fremont foes with pins in the impressive victory.
Dan Benedetti, Pat Stone, Rohner Segnitz, Bob Martin and Fred Luminoso each won by fall to give the Cats all the team points they really needed to turn back the Indians. But toss in a pair of decisions for Ouelette and Amir Eissa and a couple of forfeit wins, and the Wildcats nailed the easy victory.
Los Gatos improved to 3-0 in the division and to 4-0 for the year with the dual match win.
Benedetti got the Cats off to a quick start with a fast pin at 103 pounds. His fall came with 31 seconds left in the first round.
A Fremont pin at 112 pounds tied the team score, but Ouelette and Stone came through with back-to-back wins to get Gatos back on top.
Ouelette worked for a tough 6-4 win at 119 pounds and Stone pinned at 3:04 of the second round at 125.
But the Indians came fighting back with a win and a pin to tie the team score at 15-15.
It wasn't tied for long, though. Los Gatos reeled off six straight wins to put the match on ice.
Jonathan Justice (140) and Dan Barber (145) picked up forfeit wins before Segnitz, Martin and Luminoso recorded three straight pins.
Segnitz pinned at 3:25 of the second round at 152 pounds, and Martin pinned with 34 seconds remaining in his 160-pound match. Luminoso added a fall at 3:59 of the second round at 171 pounds.
Eissa finished off the day for the Cats with a solid 16-8 win at 189 pounds, and Gatos had the team win locked up.
Earlier in the week, the Cats had finished 16th at the rugged Bianchini Memorial at Cupertino.
Segnitz and Bobby Nguyen were the lone placers for the Wildcats in the tourney.
The Wildcats had a better day at the Lynn Dyche Tournament at James Lick. Gatos finished fourth behind Palma, Alisal and Newark-Memorial in the tourney with Martin and Eissa leading the way.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 17, 1996.
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